Rules for Enduring the Sweenys

Rule #9: Fight Dirty if Necessary

“The kids are sleeping, where’s Eli?” Bella opened the door to Owen’s bedroom and found him surrounded by stacks of her notebooks. “Really?” she growled. “That’s low.” Her voice made Owen jump. When he saw her standing in the doorway with her arms folded, he smirked slyly; not at all embarrassed that he’d been caught snooping through her stuff.

“Eli’s spending the night with Dizzy’s sisters and parents,” he said with an arrogant half-smile.

“Owen, you seriously have me considering homicide right now,” Bella groaned. But to be honest, she was kind of relieved that someone had found her journals. Somewhere in all of that was the notebook that documented her time with Georgie and her experience traveling across country on her own. She almost wanted somebody to know what she’d been through.

“Don’t worry.” Owen grinned, knowing she didn’t like when he said that. “I’ve only read the rule book.” His expression was teasing. “These are good! Ariel knows about ‘em, huh?” Bella said nothing. “Wanna know my favorite part?” She rolled her eyes, but nodded.

Owen pushed stacks of journals out of the way and patted the empty spot on his bed. When Bella ignored his offer, he glared at her. “Come sit down so I can finally tell you a story.” He’d lied to her. The rule book wasn’t the only journal he’d read.

“Oh… great. I finally get to solve the mystery of the Great Friend War of 2001,” Bella replied sarcastically, but found herself sitting in front of him anyway.

“You’re hilarious,” he commented dryly. “The reason Jake and Zane kicked my ass was because…” Owen glanced up shyly, his heart pounding, “of you.”

“Wonderful,” Bella muttered, “you can just throw that right there on my shoulders on top of everything else. Thanks.” Her reaction confused Owen for a second, but then he began to laugh.

“That’s not what I meant Bells.” ‘Since when did it become okay for him to call me that again?’ she wondered. “Okay, I’m just gonna say what I’ve been trying to tell you.” He inhaled deeply. “Last summer, I wanted to ask you out. I’ve liked you since Middle School, and then you ended up being the kids’ nanny way longer than expected and…” he trailed off, not looking at her. “I told your brothers and they flipped out. Jake kept saying that I needed to stay the fuck away ‘cause I was gonna hurt you… and then Zane got involved, and Bryce, and Oliver and Frankie were called. They said I needed to leave you the fuck alone and stay away from your family. They said I was never allowed to go near you.”

Now it was Bella’s turn to laugh. “That’s a good one,” she chuckled, getting up to leave. Owen’s face fell. ‘Right,’ he thought, ‘rule number one.’ He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look at him.

“I’m not fucking around Bella,” he insisted honestly. “I’m dead fuckin’ serious.” His voice wavered gently. Bella shook her head, her smile vanishing. “I’m asking you to please give me a chance.”

“I’m all fucked up Owen. If that’s what ruined your relationship with my brothers… it was a stupid waste of a good friendship.” She gently removed his hand from her arm. “You should know that by now.” A sadness descended upon her. She picked up a notebook with the number THIRTEEN written across it in big bold letters. She dropped it into his lap as she moved to leave. “I think that’s the one you’re looking for.”